Mobile ticketing

Abstract

Embodiments of a transit ticket system are provided. The transit ticket system may include a mobile computing device configured to (i) download a mobile ticketing application from a ticket management server, the mobile ticketing application including a graphical data sheet, a ticket dictionary, and ticket strings, (ii) receive ticket rendering instructions from the ticket management server in response to completion of a ticket purchase process via the mobile computing device, and (iii) render for display an active ticket on the mobile computing device with data stored on the mobile computing device based on the ticket rendering instructions, the graphical data sheet, ticket dictionary, and ticket strings in response to an activation input command.

1 .- 20 . (canceled) 
     
     
         21 . A mobile ticketing application of a transit ticket system for executing on a mobile computing device in communication with a ticket management server, the mobile ticketing application comprising:
 (i) a user interface configured to facilitate purchases, by a user of the mobile computing device, of transit tickets from the ticket management server, wherein the purchased transit tickets are associated with an account for the user of the mobile computing device;   (ii) a ticket library populated with any unused tickets associated with the user's account that were purchased either via the ticket purchase function or by, or on behalf of, the user via a separate computer in communication with the ticket management server, wherein, upon a purchase, the mobile ticketing application receives and stores mobile ticket rendering instructions transmitted from the ticket management server; and   (iii) a user interface configured to validate an unused ticket from the ticket library upon receiving a prompt by the user to display at least one of a visually-validated ticket and a QR code,
 wherein the user interface dynamically renders the visually-validated ticket by applying the ticket rendering instructions to a graphical datasheet to display certain graphical objects from the graphical datasheet selected by the ticket rendering instructions, and the mobile ticketing application downloads the graphical datasheet and updates to the graphical datasheet from 
   the ticket management server independently of the purchase of the ticket being validated.   
     
     
         22 . The mobile ticketing application of  claim 21 , wherein at least two graphical objects from the graphical datasheet are associated with different types of tickets. 
     
     
         23 . The mobile ticketing application of  claim 21 , wherein the ticket management server additionally transmits ticket dictionary data and a ticket string, and updates to the ticket dictionary and ticket string, to the mobile computing device independent of ticket purchase processes implemented by the mobile computing device. 
     
     
         24 . The mobile ticketing application of  claim 21 , wherein purchasing a ticket includes exchange of payment data with the ticket management server. 
     
     
         25 . The mobile ticketing application of  claim 21 , wherein the mobile ticketing application downloads a ticket string from the ticket management server, which includes instructions for animating graphical elements in the graphical datasheet. 
     
     
         26 . The mobile ticketing application of  claim 25 , where the ticket strings includes color data, transparency data, and scale data related to the graphical elements in the graphical data sheet. 
     
     
         27 . The mobile ticketing application of  claim 25 , wherein the graphical datasheet includes animated graphical objects. 
     
     
         28 . The mobile ticketing application of  claim 21 , wherein the user interface is configured to display a visually validated ticket and a QR code representation of the ticket. 
     
     
         29 . The mobile ticketing application of  claim 21 , wherein the user interface is configured to receive a user selection to validate a selected ticket as a visually validated ticket or as a QR code representation of the ticket. 
     
     
         30 . A method of managing validation of tickets via a mobile ticketing application in communication with a ticket management server, comprising:
 in response to requests from a user of a mobile computing device, purchasing transit tickets from the ticket management server, wherein the purchased transit tickets are associated with an account for the user of the mobile computing device;   populating a ticket library with any unused tickets associated with the user's account that were purchased either via the mobile computing device or by, or on behalf of, the user via a separate computer in communication with the ticket management server, wherein, upon a purchase, the mobile ticketing application receives and stores mobile ticket rendering instructions transmitted from the ticket management server; and   upon receiving a prompt by the user to display at least one of a visually-validated ticket and a QR code, dynamically rendering the visually-validated ticket by applying the ticket rendering instructions to a graphical datasheet to display at least one graphical object from the graphical datasheet specified by the ticket rendering instructions,   wherein the mobile ticketing application downloads the graphical datasheet and updates to the graphical datasheet from the ticket management server independently of the purchase of the ticket being validated.   
     
     
         31 . The method of  claim 30 , wherein at least two graphical objects from the graphical datasheet are associated with different types of tickets. 
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 30 , wherein the mobile ticketing application additionally downloads from the ticket management server ticket dictionary data and a ticket string, and updates to the ticket dictionary and ticket string, independent of ticket purchase processes implemented by the mobile computing device. 
     
     
         33 . The method of  claim 30 , wherein purchasing a ticket includes exchange of payment data with the ticket management server. 
     
     
         34 . The method of  claim 30 , wherein the mobile ticketing application downloads a ticket string from the ticket management server, which includes instructions for animating graphical elements in the graphical datasheet. 
     
     
         35 . The method of  claim 34 , wherein the ticket strings includes color data, transparency data, and scale data related to the graphical elements in the graphical data sheet. 
     
     
         36 . The method of  claim 34 , wherein the graphical datasheet includes animated graphical objects. 
     
     
         37 . The method of  claim 30 , further comprising displaying a visually validated ticket and a QR code representation of the ticket. 
     
     
         38 . The method of  claim 30 , further comprising receiving a user selection to validate a selected ticket as a visually validated ticket or as a QR code representation of the ticket.